Suitsukealusta Tree of Life

Incense holder for sticks and cones, decorated with an engraved Tree of Life pattern.
Suitable for burning incense cones and thin incense sticks, such as Indian and Japanese incense.

Type of wood: Papri (Indian elm).

10 cm

The tree of life is a powerful symbol that has appeared throughout the centuries and around the world in many religious and spiritual traditions.

Tree of Life, Ancient Iran
In Iranian mythology, there are several sacred plant icons associated with life, healing, and eternity. For example, the protector of plants, the goddess of trees and immortality.

Tree of Life, Bahá'í Religion
The concept of the tree of life appears in the writings of the Bahá'í Faith, where it can refer to a manifestation of God, a great teacher who appears to mankind from age to age.

Tree of Life, Buddhism
According to Buddhist tradition, the Bodhi Tree, or Bo Tree, is the tree (Ficus religiosa) under which Prince Siddhartha sat when he attained enlightenment about 2,500 years ago in Bodh Gaya, India, and thus became the Buddha (Awakened One).

Tree of Life, China
In Chinese mythology, the carving of the tree of life often also depicts a phoenix and a dragon, of which the dragon often represents immortality. A Taoist story tells of a tree that produces a peach of immortality every three thousand years, and anyone who eats the fruit gains immortality.

Tree of Life, Europe
Antoine-Joseph Pernety, a famous writer and alchemist in the 18th century, combined the tree of life with the Elixir of Life and the Philosopher's Stone.

The Tree of Life, Germanic Paganism and Norse Mythology
In Germanic paganism, trees play a significant role, appearing in various forms in surviving texts and even in the names of gods. The Tree of Life appears in Norse religion as Yggdrasil, the world tree that reaches across the nine worlds and holds three magical sources: the source of wisdom and knowledge, the source of the past, present and future, and the source of space and the cosmos.

Tree of life, Islam
Trees also play an important role in the Quran. The date palm is mentioned about 20 times and is said to come from paradise and heal poisons. It is the tree under which Mary - according to Allah - gave birth to Jesus. It is written about the olive tree: "It showed a stream of pure water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of the Lamb of God. In the middle of the road and on both sides of the stream grows the tree of life, which bears twelve baskets of fruit every month. And the leaves of this tree heal the nations."

Tree of Life, Mesoamerica - Maya culture
Among the Maya, the central world tree was depicted or represented by the ceiba tree. It represents the axis mundi, the stable center of the universe.

Tree of Life, Judaism
The tree of life is mentioned in the book of Genesis. The most famous tree in the Garden of Eden is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, from which Adam and Eve ate and were expelled from paradise. Judaism also mentions the tree of life or the tree of souls. This tree produces souls and thus life itself.

Tree of Life, Native Americans
The Tree of Life motif is strongly present in indigenous traditions, including Ojibway cosmology. The Tree of Life represents everything that lives on this planet and in the universe. It "beats" the rhythm of life from day to day, from year to year, from life to life. Indigenous peoples highly value all living things and are masters at maintaining a balance between their own needs and the resources provided by nature.